So restrained is the interior decoration of the state rooms, or in the words of James Lees-Milne, "chaste", that the smaller, more intimate rooms in the family's private south-west wing were decorated in similar vein, without being overpowering. The long library running the full length of the wing still contains the collection of books acquired by Thomas Coke on his Grand Tour through Italy, where he saw for the first time the Palladian villas which were to inspire Holkham.[5]

The Green State bedroom is the principal bedroom; it is decorated with paintings and tapestries, including works by Paul Saunders and George Smith Bradshaw.[21] It is said that when Queen Mary visited, Gavin Hamilton's "lewd" depiction of Jupiter Caressing Juno "was considered unsuitable for that lady's eyes and was banished to the attics".[22][edit] GroundsMap of the estate from 1946

Work to the designs of William Kent on the Park commenced in 1729, several years before the house was constructed. This event was commemorated by the construction in 1730 of the obelisk,[4] 80 feet (24 m) in height, standing on the highest point in the Park. It is located over half a mile to the south and on axis with the centre of the House. An avenue of trees stretches over a mile south of the obelisk. Thousands of trees were planted on what had been windswept land; by 1770 the park covered 1,500 acres (6.1 km2). Other garden buildings designed by Kent are, near the far end of the avenue the Triumphal Arch, designed in 1739 but only completed in 1752 and the domed doric Temple (1730–35) in the woods near the obelisk. Above the main entrance to the house within the Marble Hall is this inscription: